


Till the End

by orphan_account



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Character Turned Into a Ghost, Gen, Graffiti, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Murder
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-11
Updated: 2019-09-11
Packaged: 2020-10-14 21:23:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20607548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Shuichi's been dead for a while. It's a bit boring, but the graffiti artists are fun.





	Till the End

**Author's Note:**

> The implied suicide isn't a big thing in the story, but like, its implied shuichi jumped in front of a train so be aware of that!

With a single blink, centuries went by.

Well, it might just be one day. Two, maybe. Shuichi can't tell time as well these days, as if dying had stolen his internal clock. Shuichi didn't need time, he supposed. Shuichi just watched the people pass by, sitting on a bench in the subway. The world is a blur, especially in the daytime. He's sad, sometimes, on certain days, or when the trains roar past suddenly. Sometimes Shuichi sees a parent and their child, or a grandparent and their grandchildren, or any sort of family, and he feels incredibly sad. Maybe more than sad, but Shuichi doesn't have enough energy for the large, complicated words he used to love.

People, the living ones, get affected by him when he gets like that. It makes Shuichi feel bad, but there isn't anything he can do, except watch them shiver and start to suddenly hold back tears. 

Shuichi doesn't move much. He'll get up once in a while, just to see if anything has changed, see if the stain of him on the track is still there. The sands of time have washed away everything, though, and that's one thing he appreciates. The first day was awful. It's still kind of awful, but it's slightly less so. There's perks, too, like people watching. Shuichi can watch people who come back everyday to the tracks, and the people who only visit. Some of them are interesting, like the pianist who sings and chirps to herself everyday, or the martial artist girl, who flipped a guy straight onto his back, all because he looked at her funny. There are boring people too, of course, but Shuichi doesn't remember them as well. He can only think so much, when the world was as fuzzy as it was.

Nighttime is his favorite, though. People aren't allowed down at night, which means only interesting people go down at night. Drug dealers, mostly, and Shuichi has seen his own share of crimes take place. Some of them make him feel something, just for a moment, and he doesn't really like that. It's sad, what happens to people. There's nothing he can do, so Shuichi just turns around or walks away. A ghost can't save the living, even if they want to. Shuichi has seen someone die, but they didn't stick around. That's a good thing, he doesn't want anyone to be in pain, but it makes him sad. So many ghost stories involve 'moving on' and that isn't something he can do. He's tried, willed himself to just leave, do anything, but Shuichi is stuck. The subway tunnels aren't too bad, though.

His favorite visitors are the graffiti artists. 

Sometimes it's just one person, sometimes it's entire groups of people. Usually kids, teenagers, people who joke and laugh loudly, their voices echoing in the empty tunnels. Wide arcs of paint that spread through the air, and they are always different. One artist, a frequent visitor with a bright yellow jacket, paints realistic scenes that make Shuichi want to weep in longing. Another pair, a very short boy with a cute hat, and a put-together girl with silver hair, working together to create cutesy, stylized images. Shuichi just likes watching them have fun. He never did those kinds of things when he was alive.

Well, he didn't have many friends, save for two, but that was probably his own fault. Shuichi can't really remember anymore. The graffiti is usually washed away in a day or so.

-

Tonight's group, and it's a group of kids, all of them are decked in white outfits and clown masks. It's adorable, in Shuichi's opinion, and simultaneously really cool. He's kind of jealous. They're a loud, rowdy group that joke and shout rude things, and it is incredibly clear to Shuichi that they love each other. The presumed leader, a short boy, has a dark cape and a fancy hat. Shuichi really likes the hat, actually. It makes him wish he had a nicer hat. Or a hat in general.

They're all full of bright colors and loud, loud, loud voices that carry and sing off-key. They jab and jump on each other, and the graffiti is less planned. Closer to splashing paint on the wall, and messing with one another's art. The only consistent thing is the logo, kind of like a calling card, sprayed perfectly in the middle. 

Then the security guards come.

Shuichi doesn't expect much, the security guards come by sometimes, chasing away and scolding the kids. Hardly any arrests are made, really. At worst, the teens will be forced to clean up their graffiti, maybe spend a night in holding. The group doesn't seem that worried, at first, with the flashing flashlights and the shouting guards. Multiple? There's more than one.

The shouting gets worse, and then there's actual policemen, plus a security guard. It's loud, it's loud, and Shuichi wants to insist for them to _calm down_. They're just kids, but they're being called criminals, and it bothers Shuichi, how loud things are getting. The clown masks are on quick as lightning, and the groups jeers and makes fun of the men. All of them are standing, ready to bolt. The police officer is listing other crimes. Asking them to come in peacefully. Something about parents- until a spray can is thrown at an officer's head, and the group goes off sprinting. They're still laughing and joking with each other, but at least they're somewhat urgent. Shuichi doesn't really want to see them caught.

Things don't go smoothly, though, and the chase begins, and it is so incredibly loud. Shouting and laughing, running and running, then, and then-.

There's a bang.

It's loud, deafening, and there's a permeating silence that presses down onto Shuichi's chest. He almost prefers the loudness, but then it gets louder and the shrieking begins. No one's laughing anymore. Someone is screaming for help, another is swearing and cursing and sobbing, they sound so scared. Shuichi wants to cry, but he can't, and he can't leave the subway. There isn't an escape. He can't turn away from this. It is so loud, and there's shouting from the group, shouting from the officers, and Shuichi kind of wants to scream himself. He doesn't. He can't.

In the end, ten kids in a gang went in to graffiti the subway. Nine kids were arrested that night.

-

Kokichi is nice, at least.

Kokichi sticks around, and he's a lot different than Shuichi. The first night, he's scared and confused, but most of all he is _livid_. He wants to go after the officers, he wants to protect his friends, his family, and he is much more emotive than Shuichi. Kokichi doesn't even notice the solemn ghost, as he slings around paint cans, tries to get out of the subway, as he screams and curses. Shuichi understands, it's scary at first, so he doesn't interrupt. He's not sure he remembers how to talk, anyways. Kokichi probably doesn't want to talk right now.

Shuichi blinks, closes his eyes for just a second, and Kokichi is in front of him. He looks… bored now. Hand resting on his chin, eyes blank, and that's a bit more scary than the anger.

"Are you even a person? You haven't moved in three days." He hums, and he has a nice voice. Even in relaxation, it is a bright, clear voice. 

"Oh, I haven't?" Shuichi's voice is hardly a whisper, but he twitches slightly to look at Kokichi. It's a little funny, when he shrieks and falls backwards. It turns out that Shuichi can speak after all.

"Holyshitokay-!" He flails a bit, then righted himself. "You're actually alive then, good to know."

"Oh, um." Shuichi should probably tell him, but Kokichi fixes his mistake before he could.

"Well, okay, not as dead as I thought you were! Technically not alive. Whatever." 

There's a beat of silence, then Kokichi pokes at his cheek. Shuichi can't help but freeze. It's odd, feeling something physically touch him. He could write a book on how it felt, how viscerally he felt in that moment. "I'm sorry you died, by the way." He mumbles, instead of something profound. "It sounded like it sucked."

Kokichi snorts slightly. "Master of understatements, aren't you? Actually, I loved it! Best experience of my short life."

"Ah, I'm sorry." Shuichi shifts his feet slightly, and it doesn't take as much energy as it used to. "I said something wrong, right? I should've realized."

"Yeah, probably." He agrees cheerfully, instead of sugar coating it. "Who are you, anyways? I asked a while ago, but you were too busy staring at a wall."

"I liked the graffiti you guys did." Shuichi tacks on. He probably should have said his name. "Shuichi- I mean. Hah, sorry, my name's Shuichi."

Kokichi blinks, but he doesn't space out like Shuichi does. "Wow, were you like this alive? Or did being dead just make you like, super awkward."

"Oh…" Shuichi thinks about it for a moment. "Can I say both?"

He giggles slightly. "Yeah, sure, go for it, bud. My name's Kokichi."

"I know, I heard your friends screaming it when you died."

"And! The first thing we're going to work on is your social skills! So far, you get an F, lower than that, actually, just a full on Z."


End file.
